Like the auto industry’s concept cars, which arouse passions in aficionados but rarely enter production, many of the most creative yacht designs never feel the effervescent plop of a champagne bottle on their bows. It’s unfortunate that the fertile imaginations of the best yacht designers and visionaries often are constrained by the needs and desires of the owners who hire them.

We asked some of the world’s leading designers and builders to share with us an idea they’ve cooked up in their studies at home or in their cars commuting or during downtime in their studios. Each had at least one pet project in his private portfolio he thought might stimulate you to think off the traveled road when the time comes for your next build. Here are their ideas and comments in their own words.

WallyIsland
What about a megayacht where you comfortably live on board as you would on your own estate; where you have a piece of land that you can use to play your favorite sport, to grow your favorite plants, to enjoy your favorite outdoor activity? What about a megayacht you move around to your favorite destinations without the burden of having to get into port to refuel; a megayacht that is 99 meters (325 feet) long, but costs what a 60-meter does?

Luca Bassani. (Click image to enlarge)

The superstructure of WallyIsland is aft and is designed in the style of an airport control tower. It features three decks: upper deck, owner’s deck and bridge deck. Three more decks are in the hull: main deck, cabin deck, and service and salon deck. The lower deck is for the engine room, the systems and the fuel tanks. (Click images to enlarge)

The aft cockpit deck is dedicated to the outdoor storage of the tenders—two 47 WallyPowers—and all the water toys. The area has enough space for two sailing boats and two or more tender cars. Two cranes can easily move all these items.

The interior features the main salon, the living/dining room, the guest accommodations (owner’s suite plus six double king-size suites that can be transformed into 12 suites for 24 guests), the library, cinema, spa, and wellness and fitness area. Another revolutionary feature of WallyIsland is that the guest and crew cabins are fitted inside the topsides. This new concept provides for two independent service corridors, and for an easier construction of the cabins.
Thanks to the vast and versatile salon areas, WallyIsland can be used for exhibitions, conventions and fashion shows. The Azipod electrical propulsion system, zero-speed stabilizers and the dimensions of the boat give extra comfort and a new aim for megayachts. —Luca Bassani is founder and president of Monaco-based Wally. www.wally.com

Hydroceptor
First there was the paddle, then there was the sail and then there was the propeller, and in between there were various hydrofoils, jet drives and surface drives. But according to the Russians, nothing will revolutionize the propulsion of seagoing vessels more than the Hydroceptor.

Evan K. Marshall. (Click image to enlarge)

The Hydroceptor, as the Russian military believes, will overcome not just the dynamic challenges of pushing a boat through the water, but it will do so in a way that the boat remains attractive both in and out of the water at high and low speeds. With this in mind, my office in collaboration with Russian naval architects MTD have taken the once-secretive propulsion system and transformed it into what we feel is a spectacular yacht application. (Click images to enlarge)

The two vessels we have created around the Hydroceptor platform are two 30-meter (98-foot) sport boats. One is an enclosed hardtop and the second a flybridge version.

Man has always been aware that the biggest resistance to pushing a boat through the water is the water itself. The hydrofoil overcame that with the drawbacks I touched on before. But the Hydroceptor takes a radical approach toward eliminating the multitude of appendages that lift the hull of the boat out of the water. It relies on a single titanium foil attached to the bow that dynamically lifts the boat out of the water while the stern is still in contact with the sea. The transom jet drives provide the propulsion, and interceptors provide the dynamic stability. With most of the hull out of the water, the resistance to propel the vessel through the sea is minimized.

The concept requires less horsepower to push the hull, making it ideally suited to high-speed vessels. Unlike a hydrofoil, in which the foils rest on the water’s surface like a surfboard, the Hydroceptor foil is actually below the surface and therefore not affected by the movement of the seas. This allows the Hydroceptor to maintain high speeds even in rough surface conditions.
The Hydroceptor delivers the potential for high speeds, and comfortable and economical cruising in a variety of sea conditions in an elegant, sexy, sophisticated package. What more would the forward-thinking yachtsman
require? —Evan K. Marshall is director of UK-based Evan K. Marshall/Usonia V. www.evankmarshall.com

Wings and Water
Question: What would you design if you were not constrained by client contracts?

Answer: A CV to find a job.

In all seriousness, we do have something different on hand, and it’s certainly not the kind of boat we’re usually approached about.

Bill Tripp. (Click image to enlarge)

For racing in the monohull world, dynamic stability is what allows boats to leave hull speed in their wake and sail faster than the wind speed in light air. A winged water ballasting system is not only dramatic—the added speed approaches that of a canting keel system, without the grounding ramifications, by giving the power to carry large rigs—it also comes without a reduction of internal volume. (Click images to enlarge)

For the exterior, we developed the same sunken deck space as on Esense, where the entire deck is a cockpit within the bulwarks. This full-length cockpit works with some very particular modular furniture to define different deck spaces and uses, from cruising to entertaining to racing, as needed.

We modeled a titanium and glass superstructure that can be transformed from deck space to interior salon space and back again, creating an inside/outside living space and leaving belowdecks a single-level interior space with aft salon, owner’s suite, three guest and three crew cabins.

This is not a fantasy boat, though. The intent of building it for a client someday was a driving force behind developing it. I’m sure many sailors would agree that it would be great fun to wing along at 18 knots in 18 knots of breeze on a boat like this. On boats this size, you hardly notice. —Bill Tripp  is owner of Connecticut-based Tripp Design Naval Architecture. www.trippdesign.netGreenhouse
This is a 55-meter (180-foot) design study in which I tried to create an extremely organic base shape punched with very rectangular glass sections. In our studio we code-named it "Greenhouse."

Cor D. Rover. (Click image to enlarge)

Project 7A

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Barry van Geffen. (Click image to enlarge)

The target idea of minimalism is often quoted as a kind of Holy Grail, but in truth these larger projects need not be driven by the need for high interior volumes. Project 7A is a definite and exerted attempt to create a minimalist design, and this has been done with an eye to maintaining absolute comfort for owners and guests, without restricting the crew and service areas. —Barry Van Geffen is CEO of UK-based Laurent Giles Naval Architects.Songbird
Songbird" is 110 feet (33.5 meters) and is best classified as a modern trawler style of passagemaker. She is a serious bluewater vessel outfitted for exploration, and yet loaded with all the amenities to make her cruise in style. Overall, this design has a mix of retro styling that pays tribute to the past yet applies modern twists and smoother detailing throughout.

Her draft is just 7.5 feet so she can cruise shallower locations and still be stable and comfortable offshore. In the past few years we have started the designs of many expedition yachts for clients where the tenders are on the bow, as in our well-known Surprise based in Fiji. However, it seems that every client, save a few, who start out this way tend to switch to carrying the tenders aft and staging all of their in-the-water play areas aft. (Click images to enlarge)

The result is a design we have developed not for a specific client, but rather for the commonsense cruising realities of today. The size is appropriate to carry four guest staterooms below and a master on the main deck or, alternatively, three guest cabins below as well as the master. Typical of the main deck is the expected salon and dining area, as well as the less formal galley if the master is placed below. The skylounge is kept small because outdoor space is the priority. Large tenders and lots of toys including windsurfers, kayaks, etc., can be carried on the upper deck and will be launched by a classic derrick-style crane. This will, in turn, hold up a canopy of sailcloth as a tension structure to allow for a large covered entertainment area outside; or, as in the tropics, just to cover up the tenders and the heat gain above the salon while at anchor.

Ward Setzer. (Click image to enlarge)

Overall, the vessel is supposed to be fun to run, not too large and not too small; possibly a throwback to the classic cruising days of Feadships and Burgers, and yet also a bit more out there on her own. It wouldn’t take a large crew to run her, yet she will feel like a much larger vessel. —Ward Setzer is president and owner of North Carolina-based Setzer Design Group. www.setzerdesign.com